Eating an elephant one bite at a time--how to plan a strategic review?
June 4, 2018 9:44 AM Subscribe
I'm the chair of a non-profit that has never had a strategic review or done any kind of long-term planning. It's become obvious that we can't continue this way and so I have taken on responsibility for getting the ball rolling. The problem is that I have no idea where to start. I'm looking for your tips on things to read, how to frame out the initial questions, which areas to consider, what methodologies are available, major pitfalls to avoid, how to manage client and staff sensitivities, etc..
I have found this question, which offers some useful ideas on how to manage a day-long strategy session, but I need to start further back than this. We need to not only define our mission and our clients' needs, but also to look at our governance structure, board vs. staff roles, resource base, etc..
In addition to your wisdom on the above questions/areas, I would also welcome any ideas you have on consultants who might be able to help with this process, and classes/seminars I could take. (We're in Ontario, Canada but prepared to work remotely.)
I have found this question, which offers some useful ideas on how to manage a day-long strategy session, but I need to start further back than this. We need to not only define our mission and our clients' needs, but also to look at our governance structure, board vs. staff roles, resource base, etc..
In addition to your wisdom on the above questions/areas, I would also welcome any ideas you have on consultants who might be able to help with this process, and classes/seminars I could take. (We're in Ontario, Canada but prepared to work remotely.)
Good for you and your organization for being willing to look at this stuff. It can be hard work but it's also potentially really rewarding and will hopefully result in a stronger organization.
I am going to suggest a couple of things for you to consider, based on my experience working in and being a board member in the NFP sector. YMMV depending on what's going on with your org.
You might want to start by collecting all of your founding docs and reading through them. Articles of incorporation, etc. This should contain the fundamental purpose for which your organization was created and is a good place to start if you don't have many other documents. If you have vision, mission and values (MVV) statement stuff, collect that too. Bylaws. Any past work the org may have done in these areas. If you don't have MVV, that may be a logical place to focus efforts.
It sounds like you might benefit from a bit of an evaluation if you haven't done so already. Either with help of a consultant to examine for you or to facilitate the board and potentially staff to talk about this. What's not working? What has gotten you to point you are at, of saying we can't go on like this? Revenue problems? Lack of cohesion? No direction? Under served or unserved clients? Staff issues? All or none of the above? Knowing more specifically what the issues are might make a strategic session more effective because you will have a better sense of what needs to be fixed and how to prioritize. Sounds like a governance review could be/should be part of that.
One thing I would say based on past experience is that you need to find a balance, as a board, in approaching this with staff. Going wide open and saying that things need to change and not much else may alarm people. However going to staff with a fully baked set of changes or proposals will also not likely be received well. It's a fine line to walk. If you have an ED or CEO that reports to you and that you can work with, work with them to involve or solicit input from staff appropriately. If you don't have this, and your senior staff is part of the problem, you may need to prioritize getting this fixed at a board level first. Or that board has to do some of this work as the governing body and then figure out how to bring the org in line (not ideal but if things are really bad, this kind of stuff should fall to the board as the financial stewards and governing body of the org).
Once you as chair have a bit of a plan or ideas of activities the org could tackle (Strat plan, evaluation, visioning session), bring it to the board to endorse and formally vote on proceeding. This will a) give you cover if things get tense as you are working through things and b) demonstrate an organization wide desire to support change. I.e. you aren't just some individual deciding what to do or have gone rogue. If you need more help in scoping and your board is supportive and good to work with, perhaps consider striking a board committee to examine options in more detail and come back to the board with a plan.
Some resources:
Ontario Nonprofit Network ONN. General ON resource for NFPs. Pretty high level. Good examples of strong visioning documents.
board source - excellent resource for operating as a board. Some pay resources but worth it, imo.
Imagine Canada's sector source. Imagine is geared to charities but this library of resources has been around in various forms for years and should still be pretty good as a place to get a robust set of guides and resources. I used to access it regularly for years.
Depending on your sector, there may be sector specific resources out there in Ontario to assist - environment, co-operative and social enterprise sectors will have pretty robust supports in my experience.
Good luck!
posted by Cyrie at 10:37 AM on June 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
I am going to suggest a couple of things for you to consider, based on my experience working in and being a board member in the NFP sector. YMMV depending on what's going on with your org.
You might want to start by collecting all of your founding docs and reading through them. Articles of incorporation, etc. This should contain the fundamental purpose for which your organization was created and is a good place to start if you don't have many other documents. If you have vision, mission and values (MVV) statement stuff, collect that too. Bylaws. Any past work the org may have done in these areas. If you don't have MVV, that may be a logical place to focus efforts.
It sounds like you might benefit from a bit of an evaluation if you haven't done so already. Either with help of a consultant to examine for you or to facilitate the board and potentially staff to talk about this. What's not working? What has gotten you to point you are at, of saying we can't go on like this? Revenue problems? Lack of cohesion? No direction? Under served or unserved clients? Staff issues? All or none of the above? Knowing more specifically what the issues are might make a strategic session more effective because you will have a better sense of what needs to be fixed and how to prioritize. Sounds like a governance review could be/should be part of that.
One thing I would say based on past experience is that you need to find a balance, as a board, in approaching this with staff. Going wide open and saying that things need to change and not much else may alarm people. However going to staff with a fully baked set of changes or proposals will also not likely be received well. It's a fine line to walk. If you have an ED or CEO that reports to you and that you can work with, work with them to involve or solicit input from staff appropriately. If you don't have this, and your senior staff is part of the problem, you may need to prioritize getting this fixed at a board level first. Or that board has to do some of this work as the governing body and then figure out how to bring the org in line (not ideal but if things are really bad, this kind of stuff should fall to the board as the financial stewards and governing body of the org).
Once you as chair have a bit of a plan or ideas of activities the org could tackle (Strat plan, evaluation, visioning session), bring it to the board to endorse and formally vote on proceeding. This will a) give you cover if things get tense as you are working through things and b) demonstrate an organization wide desire to support change. I.e. you aren't just some individual deciding what to do or have gone rogue. If you need more help in scoping and your board is supportive and good to work with, perhaps consider striking a board committee to examine options in more detail and come back to the board with a plan.
Some resources:
Ontario Nonprofit Network ONN. General ON resource for NFPs. Pretty high level. Good examples of strong visioning documents.
board source - excellent resource for operating as a board. Some pay resources but worth it, imo.
Imagine Canada's sector source. Imagine is geared to charities but this library of resources has been around in various forms for years and should still be pretty good as a place to get a robust set of guides and resources. I used to access it regularly for years.
Depending on your sector, there may be sector specific resources out there in Ontario to assist - environment, co-operative and social enterprise sectors will have pretty robust supports in my experience.
Good luck!
posted by Cyrie at 10:37 AM on June 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Some useful UK resources:
The DIY toolkit for social innovation, which was featured on the Blue recently (dig deep, there's some short Open University modules to support some of the resources)
The Inspiring Impact website, which is just chocker with reports and resources.
Read all you can on Theory of Change (lots of resources online). It's not the only way to do this, but it will give you a framework to work through, and a structure if you've never thought about this before.
posted by Helga-woo at 10:42 AM on June 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
The DIY toolkit for social innovation, which was featured on the Blue recently (dig deep, there's some short Open University modules to support some of the resources)
The Inspiring Impact website, which is just chocker with reports and resources.
Read all you can on Theory of Change (lots of resources online). It's not the only way to do this, but it will give you a framework to work through, and a structure if you've never thought about this before.
posted by Helga-woo at 10:42 AM on June 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
You should always start big and broad, vision and values. Make sure your leadership and board agree about the direction and future hope for the organization. Then break it down in to the smaller pieces.
posted by RajahKing at 10:53 AM on June 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by RajahKing at 10:53 AM on June 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
For example, Wilfrid Laurier's MBA program does exactly this for nonprofits. My partner participated in a project with MEDA. Find local universities with MBA programs and reach out to find out how you can qualify. One problem will likely be that you'd have to wait quite a while (months) to get started.
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:14 AM on June 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:14 AM on June 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks everybody, I've marked a couple of of "best answers" that linked to resources I didn't know about, but all your input is helpful. I feel like I might be able to get my mind around this after all.
posted by rpfields at 5:29 PM on June 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by rpfields at 5:29 PM on June 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
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—Twice we worked with graduate-level MBA programs where the students took on our nonprofit as a project to help us come up with a strategic plan and flesh out our income strategy. However, the results both times were good for the students but not nearly as useful to us. Where they were useful to us was simply in getting us to ask the right questions of ourselves; however, our answers were far better than the MBA students' answers, which ranged from facile to inane. You might approach local business schools. Be sure to clearly define what you want, even going so far as to say "for us a nonprofit board is one that..." or "a strategic plan is a document that..."
—For one nonprofit, we learned the hard way that having it run by a staff member was a mistake. It reminded me of focus groups run by advertising agencies, where instead of it truly being an open field where all opinions are welcomed (which is what you want), the facilitator had obvious preferences and biases that doomed the effort from the start. This person also loved the sound of their own voice, was over fond of long slide decks, loved whiteboards, never really got around to the point, and were inflated with a feeling of authority. It would have been far, far better to have any reasonably intelligent outsider run it, even if they didn't know our field.
—For one current nonprofit, I wrote the entire strategic plan and mission myself. No outside consultants, no committees. Then I shared it with coworkers, board members, and insiders, and made changes where needed. This worked pretty well because I had been with the nonprofit since the beginning and had a large store of ideas we had all come up with, I had the most staff experience with management and running nonprofits, and I was motivated by what I saw as an executive decision-making void that was in danger of being filled by someone who thinks of themselves as a senior leader but in truth has the management skills of a novice. However, doing it alone meant that I had to get buy-in *after* the strat plan was written, which is harder than the buy-in coming automatically as part of the process of creating it.
—I recently had this nonprofit recommended to me as a source of inexpensive executive leadership training. It's the kind of thing you might do for yourself *before* undergoing the big-deal process you're describing. They are based in California, but perhaps if you inquire they can recommend a similar organization in your area.
—Google "design thinking nonprofit organizational review" to get some more ideas about what other organizations have done that is similar to what you want to do.
posted by Mo Nickels at 10:32 AM on June 4, 2018 [1 favorite]